A Change of Heart
by Shockrider
Summary: While on a mission together, Naruto notices the changes Hinata has made since he's been gone. And he's not minding them much at all. Slight AU.


_A/N: Well, I was working on editing my OC's fic when this idea popped into my head. Depending on the interest this story generates, I might make it anywhere from about 4 chapters to much, much longer (possibly 10-20)._

_I'm a little worried going into this because while Naruto's personality is easy to write, Hinata can be tricky. She has an incredible range of emotions that can switch depending on what type of situation she's in or who she is around. Unlike my Shikamaru/Temari story, I have very few concrete character traits to work with, so it should be a fun challenge to tackle._

_One last note. In my summary, I said that this story was "slightly AU." That's because I'm too lazy to see how things in the manga are going to pan out. Plus, I already have a good idea as to who Naruto will end up with. And as for a timeframe, I'm saying that this occurs at any random point in Shippuuden pre-hunt for Itachi._

_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and I stand to gain no profit from this work of fanfiction._

_Chapter 1: New Missions and New Hopes_

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_Knock knock_.

"Come in!" the Fifth Hokage shouted at her door. In a moment, a very weary Naruto Uzumaki stepped into Tsunade's office. He unimpressively sported a black T-shirt and orange lounge pants, which seemed to go with his tousled blonde hair. He slowly rubbed his eyes, letting out a great yawn, all while Tsunade and her apprentice, Sakura, watched in disbelief. The latter, stunned that her friend would show up to the Hokage's office in such a condition, let the image set in before frowning and scolding him, "Naruto! What is wrong with you? Why didn't you get dressed?!"

Naruto was no longer sleepy. Instead, he was quickly backtracking, trying to avoid the rapidly-advancing kunoichi as he stammered, "S-Sakura, wait! Y-You said to get here as fast as I could! I thought there might be a mission or an emergency or something! Wait!" The look in her eyes was one he had seen before. It rarely ended well for him. This time was no exception.

While Naruto nursed the fairly large bump on his head, he grumbled and approached Tsunade's desk. Sakura stood next to him, presumably to "monitor" his attitude. She cared deeply for her friend, but she was well aware of the fact that he needed to be kept in line every once in a while. After shooting Sakura a quick glare, Naruto addressed the Hokage in his usual fashion, "So, Grandma Tsunad- Ow! Stop hitting me, Sakura!"

"Then show the Hokage some respect!" came her reply.

Not wanting to risk further injury, he reluctantly changed his tone as he spoke, "Ahem. _Lady_ Tsunade," he paused to frown at the smiling girl next to him before continuing, "Why'd you need to see me?"

While Tsunade had watched the "fight" before her with an amused expression, she became serious once Naruto spoke. Looking over the documents in front of her, she answered, "You already guessed it. You have a mission."

He blinked, sounding excited when he questioned her further, "Really? What kind of mission? Am I chasing down a dangerous ninja? Or maybe it's a really risky escort mission through enemy territory… Oh! Maybe it's a cool- Ow! Stop it, Sakura!"

"Let her speak!" she retorted.

"No," Tsunade paused to let the two shinobi in front of her settle down. "This is a simple search and capture mission. A group of bandits has been causing trouble at a trading outpost about a day's travel north of here. I'm assigning you a partner to help you locate and detain the leader so we can put an end to this."

Naruto's eyes started to light up, his voice sounding desperate as he grasped at straws, "Search and capture? Is the leader some really powerful missing-nin or-"

"This is a C-rank mission," the Hokage interrupted, dashing the boy's hopes in one sentence.

"Come on, Granny Tsunade!" Naruto was able to dodge Sakura's incoming punch, having seen it coming. "Can't one of the genin teams handle it? Konohamaru's squad is probably getting pretty good."

Tsunade's glare quickly silenced him. "We're short-handed, Naruto, and the people living near the trading outpost can't afford to wait around for our shinobi to come back from other assignments." The Hokage paused to smirk, speaking after a moment, "And if you'll recall, you _are_ a genin. So I suppose I'll take your advice and send _you_ out. Listen, if it makes you feel any better, the leader of this gang is apparently a ninja. Nothing too high-level, but possibly a challenge for you."

Naruto simply grumbled upon being reminded of his rank, asking grumpily, "Who's going to be my partner then?"

Tsunade continued looking over the papers on her desk. She saw that Kiba and Shino were already on missions, and Neji was needed elsewhere. But as she reviewed the available shinobi, another Hyuga stood out. "Ah, here. Hinata Hyuga will accompany you. Her Byakugan will help with scanning the area around the outpost as well as tracking down the bandits' leader. Once he's found, bring him back here alive. Oh," she hesitated, then smirked slightly wider as she continued, "And as she is a _chunin_, she will be in charge of the mission. Understood?"

Despite his desire for a more difficult assignment, Naruto knew better than to question the Hokage, especially when it came to mission leadership. It mattered little to him anyways, as he was used to taking orders. "Yeah, fine," he answered in a defeated tone. "When do we leave?"

"One hour, from the northern gate," came Tsunade's reply. "Dismissed. Sakura, get Hinata and bring her here. Tell her to pack before she comes with you."

After the two ninja exited the office, Sakura chuckled, grinning at her former squad mate, teasing him as they walked, "Poor Naruto. All your work and you get a C-rank mission."

"When I'm Hokage," he responded dryly, "I'm going to make you the ambassador to the Land of Snow. Forever."

Sakura laughed, reaching up and patting Naruto's back to try to calm him down, "Just relax. This mission will be no problem. Think about it, you'll be back in no time and you'll get something new to do."

"Yeah, yeah, good point." He started to grin, chuckling softly as he spoke once more, "I should look at the bright side. At least I'm not chasing after cats anymore."

The pink-haired kunoichi laughed, recalling their numerous busywork missions around the village in their younger days. Things had certainly changed a lot since then. Sakura knew that both she and Naruto had gotten much stronger and both of them had matured a great deal since they first became genin. She also knew that the mission he was going on was to confirm that idea. Sakura was aware that Tsunade was only sending him off on an "easier" mission to make sure he had learned something about teamwork and coordination with Jiraiya. And while it was true that the second bell test with Kakashi was supposed to accomplish the same goal, there was no comparing that to an actual assignment in the real world. Still, rather than telling him that, she found it much more entertaining to tease him instead. As they neared Naruto's apartment, Sakura let him go on his own, waving and calling out, "Be careful out there. And listen to Hinata! She's in charge!"

Naruto laughed softly, waving back to her and entering his small apartment. He quickly changed into his orange and black jumpsuit and began packing his supplies. As usual, he stored enough kunai and shuriken to make himself useful, and then examined the rest of what he had to work with. His training with Jiraiya had taught him not only about ninjutsu, but also about himself. Naruto knew that one of his strongest traits was his ability to keep opponents guessing, and he had worked at honing that skill in particular while he was away. After going over the mission details in his head once more, he grabbed a second pack and loaded it with explosive tags, wire, and a few flash bombs.

After fastening his pouches to his belt, something in the corner of his room caught his eye. On a nearby table sat his frog wallet, Gama, looking nicely stuffed with money. "Well," he murmured, feeling a mischievous grin starting to form on his face, "we _are_ going to a trading post. Might as well pick out something nice while I'm there, no? Heheh…"

Meanwhile, Hinata was just receiving the news of her assignment in the Hokage's office. As all of the details of her mission swirled around in her mind, one thought in particular stuck out above all the rest. 'I'm going on a mission. Alone. With _Naruto_…'

She walked numbly from the palace, already packed for the assignment ahead of her. While she was aware that within the hour, she would be on her way to apprehend a dangerous criminal, thus saving hundreds of lives and jobs in the process, all she could think about was the fact that Naruto would be by her side the entire time. She would finally have the chance to show him how much stronger she had gotten while he had been away. She would finally have the chance to show him how she had taken his words to heart after he encouraged her so long ago. She would finally have the chance to make herself noticed in his eyes. Just then, she knew nothing would stop her. So long as she didn't faint. That would pose a potential problem for her.

When she reached the northern gate, Hinata readjusted her backpack and looked around for Naruto. She had arrived early, but she knew that her partner almost always wanted to get a head start on missions. Once Hinata saw that he was nowhere in sight, however, she shrugged to herself, deciding to look around at the forest in front of her. She only very rarely got the chance to take in its natural beauty, and she decided not to waste the opportunity. Numerous trees stretched high into air, their leaf-laden branches spread open to receive the sun. Countless birds flew from limb to limb, no doubt caring for their young or searching for food in the morning light. Two big, beautiful blue eyes gazed directly into her own, taking up her entire field of vision in a heartbeat.

'Naruto?'

Upon realizing what was happening, Hinata gasped, her eyes widening as she tried to take a step away from her assigned partner. Finding that her legs wouldn't let her move, however, all the Hyuga heiress could do was tensely stare back and feel her face redden. 'Don't faint, don't faint, don't faint!' she quickly told herself.

"Hey, Hinata! Ready to go?" he asked with his typical energetic voice while wearing his typical large grin.

'You've gotten stronger, Hinata," she affirmed in her mind. 'You can have a conversation with him. Even if he is so close...'

"Huh? Hinata?" Naruto asked, his voice tinged with concern. "Are you all right?"

'Just think of all the work you've done and how hard you've trained. You can do this.'

Just as she opened her mouth to speak, however, the blonde ninja reached up and placed his hand squarely against her forehead, murmuring, "You feel warm. Are you okay?"

'He's… He's…' Hinata was unable to finish her thought, promptly passing out a moment later.

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_A/N: And there's Chapter 1. I probably made Sakura a little OOC in the beginning, but I tried to balance it out later. Anyways, back to working on my OC's fic._

_See you all next time with Chapter 2: The Brave, the Foolish, and the Naruto. Or possibly some better name._


End file.
